What Would It Take?
by Blue Box Fox
Summary: She is pretty, but I don't think I've ever seen her smile. Jam


A/N: This little idea popped into my head after seeing the episode "The Secret" and hasn't left me alone since. As I've seen Jim and Pam working together to plan pranks on Dwight, I've wondered: maybe Jim started off with little tricks. Maybe he wanted to impress a cute girl…

Oh, and I'm fairly certain that Elmer's glue will not hold a vertically-placed paperclip because of its weight, so for the sake of the fanfic, it is EXTRA-STRENGTH Elmer's glue, or whatever.

Enjoy!

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Disclaimer: I don't even have enough money for a Wii, and you think I could afford an entire TV show??? They belong to NBC.

DUNDER-MIFFLIN – 5:25 P.M.

Jim Halpert smiled to himself as he quickly finished "rearranging" his coworker's desk.

Ever since he had first seen "Dwigh-T K. Schru-TE," as he called himself, Jim had just felt this irresistible urge to annoy the nerd to no end. And hey, who ignores urges like that? It could be bad for your health. Or something.

Today, Jim had taken all of Dwight's paperclips and made sure they would never leave Dwight's side.

By gluing them all over his desk.

He had used Elmer's glue, of course. Why risk getting in trouble for damaging the company property? Besides, he was fairly certain he would have burned himself with the superglue.

Jim glued the last paperclip in place with a mischievous smile, knowing that the Assistant to the Regional Manager would spend the better part of tomorrow picking glue off his desk and paperclips. _Hee._ He straightened up and put the glue bottle back in his bag. _Erase the evidence_, he thought to himself as he walked out the door.

THE NEXT DAY –

"AAAAAGGGGHHHH!"

Jim had come in early just to see Dwight's reaction.

He could see the anger and exasperation in his eyes from his hiding spot in the break room. _Guess he hasn't forgotten that_…_keyboard incident_, Jim mused.

Almost immediately, Dwight dropped to his knees and began furiously plucking the paperclips off the side of his desk. As Jim watched, greatly amused, he suddenly caught a small blur of movement from the corner of his vision, and turned his head to see what it was.

The new girl, the receptionist…_what was her name?_ was sitting at her desk. As far as Jim had seen, she could have simply teleported there. Was it possible for a person to move so quickly, yet silently? He watched her for a moment, thinking.

She had hardly spoken a word to anyone. The longest sentence Jim had ever heard her say was her standard "Dunder-Mifflin, this is Pam," _(Aha! That's the one)_ when answering the phone. She always had her head down, scribbling away, her wavy brown hair framing her face. She appeared delicate, like a newly-mended china doll, scared of being broken again. Even her face was that of a doll's, smooth and white. _She is pretty_, Jim admitted silently, _but I don't think I've ever seen her smile_.

A yell of frustration interrupted Jim's thoughts and he turned his attention back to Dwight, who was now scratching at his desk like a rabid monkey. Jim smiled in triumph. _Mission accomplished!_ Now all he had to do was sneak back out into the hallway via the break room's back door, pretend he was just coming in, and…_huh?_

If he had glanced over a second sooner, he would have missed it. Pam had peeked over the edge of her desk at Dwight (who was now determinedly picking glue off his beloved paperclips) and as Jim watched in astonishment, a shy, amused smile flitted over her face, like a timid butterfly. Jim had only a second to register how beautiful she looked at that moment before her smile vanished as quickly as it had come, and she hastily ducked back behind her desk.

Jim silently rose to his feet and tip-toed out the back door of the break room and into the hallway, where he leaned against the wall, his heart pounding in his ears. _She SMILED! That silly prank made HER smile!! _ A wide, goofy grin spread across Jim's face and his body nearly tingled with excitement. She had looked so beautiful and innocent in that moment…he wanted very badly to see her smile again. _What would it take?_

Jim waited a moment to wipe the silly grin off his face (which took some effort) before casually walking into the office. Pam glanced up at him and he gave her a polite smile. To his amusement, she turned pink and quickly looked down at her shoes as he hung up his coat next to hers on the coat rack.

As Jim sat down at his desk, Dwight (who was still on his hands and knees on the floor) paused from his frantic scratching and glanced at him, frustration written all over his face. "Hey, Dwight," Jim said innocently, turning his computer on. Dwight said "Hrmf!" in reply and continued picking at his paperclips. Jim nodded and leaned back in his chair, feeling that tingling excitement spread through him once more. _What would it take to make her smile again? Or laugh? Could I make her laugh?_ Ideas and plans began swimming around in his head, and he grabbed a pencil and paper and began to write…

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Hope you liked it. I'm fairly certain Pam has brown hair, but please correct me if I'm wrong… 

Many thanks to my cousin for her awesome prank ideas.

Please read and review. You'll be a better person for it…


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